According to 6tones, experts say it is never too early for parents to care about building good sleeping habits for their children. If your child refuses to go to bed early, frequently experiences nightmares, or is startled at night, these require special attention.
A new study by Chinese researchers, published in the international journal JAMA Network Open, followed 17,182 children between the ages of 3 and 4, and found a link between sleep problems and difficulty expressing children’s emotions and behavior.
The secret to helping children sleep well and not be disturbed at night
According to China’s National Health Commission, children between the ages of 3 and 5 need 10 to 13 hours of sleep every day. Photo: sixthtones.
The problems young children encounter related to sleep are often difficult to completely solve. According to research, up to 50% of children still have this problem when moving from kindergarten to school. Therefore, the researcher recommends early intervention to address sleep disorders in young children, thereby improving mental health in the future.
According to China’s National Health Commission, children between the ages of 3 and 5 need 10 to 13 hours of sleep every day. Poor sleep in young children is one of the main causes of referral to pediatric services, with approximately 30% to 40% of children under 6 years of age affected.
Professor Jiang Fan, head of research at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, said: “Poor sleep is closely related to daytime sleepiness, lack of concentration, hyperactivity, and difficulty sleeping. emotional behavioral difficulties in children”.
Research also shows that children from high-income families or highly educated mothers are less likely to have emotional-behavioral problems and are more able to resolve them.
Other research led by Professor Jiang, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, found that preschoolers who spent more than an hour a day in front of screens had a significantly higher risk of mental health problems. tell.
However, this impact will vary depending on the type of content viewed, with educational content being less harmful than entertainment or programming not aimed at children.
Shanghai Children’s Medical Center recommends that parents remove screens such as TVs and computers from their children’s lives to improve their children’s sleep quality.
The World Health Organization recommends that children under 2 years old avoid screens completely, while children 2 to 5 years old should not sit in front of screens for more than an hour a day. However, 76% of children in China are exposed to screens before age 2, while 78.6% of 3-year-olds entering kindergarten exceed the WHO-recommended daily screening time.
The researcher noted that the problem of children being exposed to too much screen time is not just a problem in China but is also a global problem, with 85% of children in Canada and 74% of children in Australia at the same level. age exceeds the recommended screen time.”
